Drapery slide feeding machine



All@ 25, 1964 J. BENEDETTO ETAL 3,145,460

DRAPERY SLIDE FEEDING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug.25, 1964 J. BENEDETTO ETAL 3,145,460

DRAPERY SLIDE FEEDING MACHINE Filed OCL. 12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 www MUnited States Patent 3,145,466 DRAERY SLIDE FEEDING MACHNEohniienedetto, '7441 Garden Grove Ave., Reseda, Calif., and Manfredlvlantlelbaunl, 8641 Cadillac Ave., Les Angeles, Caiif.

Filed Get. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 230,212 1t) Slairns. (Cl. Zit-241) Thisinvention relates to a device for feeding drapery slides or hangers inaligned oriented relation to facilitate Stringing thereof on a curtainor drapery rod, it being an object of the invention to provide means notonly facilitating Stringing, but also aiding Stringing of a requirednum-k ber of slides to speed up and, therefore, render slide-stringingoperations economical.

Depending on the width of a curtain `or drapery, the slide hangersrequired to properly hang the same vary between a few to twenty, thirty,or more for each of two curtains or draperies on a hanger rod. Stringingthe exact number of such hangers on the rod, one at a time, particularlyin cases Where several drapery installations are being made, entailsmuch loss of time that affects the cost of the work being done. Hence,the invention contemplates the provision of feed means that enablesYproper feeding of the required number of hangers on a rod in a time notmuch greater than needed to string two or three hangers one at a time.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drapery hanger feedingmachine that feeds hangers from a hopper in which the hangers are inhelter-skelter arrangement, and which aligns and Orients them, leavingit forthe operator only to slide them in easily defined and countedbatches onto a curtain rod.

The above and otherobjects, features and advantages of the inventionwill become more clearly evident from the following description of apreferred form of the invention,v the same having basis on theaccompanying drawings in which like numerals designate similar parts inthe several views, and in which:

FG. l is a plan sectional view of a drapery slide feeding machineembodying features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view as taken on the line 2 2 of rre., 1.,y

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view, as taken on the line 3 3 of HG. 2.

FG. 4 is a cross-sectional View as taken on the line 4 4 of FIG. 1.

FIG.- 5 is an enlarged and fragmentary Vplan view showing the portion ofthe machine that holds the hangers oriented and aligned preparatory tobeing fed or slid onto a hanger rod. Y ,.1

FIG. `6 is an end elevational view thereof.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view as taken on the line 7 7 of FIG.5.

The base 16 comprises a generally rectangular tray with a bottom 2t) andshallow encompassing walls 21.y

The housing 11 has a preferably semi-cylindrical wall 22 extending asside walls 23 to the base 10, and front and back Walls 24 and 25,respectively. The wall 24 is provided with an opening 26 eccentric tothe housing wall 22 and with an inlet chute 27 through which draperyslides may b e supplied to the machine for feed to the slide- Thefeeding machine that is illustrated comprises, Ygen- 'v orally, a base10, a housing 11 extending upwardly from one end of said base, a hopper12 for drapery slides disposed within said housing, a rotationallymounted and rotationally driven rotor 13 within said hopper to scramblethe slides in the hopper, and to engage and feed the same successivelytoward the discharge end ofthe hopper, a slideway i4 extending from thehopper discharge to the opposite end of the base 10 receptive of slidesfed thereto by the rotor 13 to present slides at the end of the slidewayin aligned and oriented arrangement, and means 15 at said end of theslideway 14-to guide the location of a drapery or traverse rod 16 inend-to-end engagement with said end of the slideway, whereby a desiredand'variable number of slides may be moved from the slideway to the rod`to obviate the need for singly counting out the slides being fed to therod.

The hopper 12 is shown as ja conical container 28 within the housing 11with larger circular end 29 aiiixed to the wall 25 and its smaller end3() extending through the opening 26 and having an opening'31. Saidinlet chute is open at 32 to the inside of the hopper 1 2, it beingclear that slides may be .supplied tothe hopper through said opening 32.

The rotor 13 has a driven shaft 33 that is :disposed longitudinally ofthe hopper andis eccentric therewith, as best seen in FIGS. l, 3 and 4.In practice, said shaft may be motor driven from the rearward end of themachine. Said rotor is shown as comprisinga pair of oppositely arrangedat, strap-like members 34 that meet at a forlwardly directed point 35slightly inward of the opening Vand the same will slide off the 31 ofthe hopper and diverge rearwardly frorn said point while in a commonplane at about a angle. At the rear said members 34 are curved out ofsaid plane as lat 36, in a direction to form scoops that impinge on andlift slides in the hopper when the rotor is rotated in the direction ofthe arrow 37 in FIG.` 3. v

The straplike members 34 have outer edges 38 tha hook onto slides Swhich have angedstuds 39 so said slides become hung up on the edgeS ofthe member 34 that is moving in an upward arc through the supply ofslides in the hopper. FIG. 2 shows a slide S so hung up, and it will beclear that, as the member 34 approaches its topmost position (see FIG.2),- the" slide is hanging freely on the edge 38 and will slide down onsaid edge and 01T point 35, due to the v45 angle of said edge, as shown.More than one slide S may become hooked on said edge point 35 one afterthe other.

Not all of the slides S that become hungifup on the edges 38, as firstone member 34 and then theother dips into the supply of slides, scoopsthemup by means of their curved ends 36, will become hooked; some willfall back into the hopper, others may become hooked but on the oppositeside of the member 34 rather than on `the side desired in position todeliver them properly to the chute 14. Lateral projections 41 areprovided on each member l34 extending from said opposite side thereof,the same' being in the` path 'of extensions 40 of slides improper'lyhungup`and acting t dislodge the `slides from their vhanger edges 38 as theyslide toward the point 35, so they p oint 35 andproceedonto the slideway14.

mayfall back into thehopper 1-2.- ln Ytlns'rnan'ner, assurance is Vhadlthat only properly hung slides SV will reach The eccentricvrelationship of the axisof therotor 13 and the center of the hopper 12provides a' relatively large space in the hopper'where the members 34aremoving upwardly in a slide-scooping'arcuate path. VThis space affords anopportunity for the hanger 'edges 38 to hook onto the flanged studs 39ofthe slides. A too close position of said edges 38 to the wall of theAhopper would cause 'the edges to move'by Without hooking 'onto slides,While the members 34 bodily lift vslides S 'which fall back -intothehopper because there is no hooking engagement may clog the operation,the rotor is provided with padcile-like members 42 placed between thehanger membetweenthe edges 38 and the flanged studs.-39"' the bers 34 onboth sides, and serving to stir around the slides S in the hopper inaddition to whatever stirring action is afforded by the members 34. Itwill be noted that members 42 are nearer the central portion of thehopper than are the members 34 to provide eiiicient stirring around ofthe slides. Said members 4Z are so formed as to push the slidesrearwardly toward where the scoops 36 of the members 34 operate.

The slideway 14 slopes from a higher level Where the same receivesslides from the rotor 113 to the lower level at the forward end of thebase 10. Said slideway comprises an elongated member 43 that has an end44 irnmediately adjacent the point 35 of the rotor and is provided withan edge 45 that forms a sloping extension of whatever edge 38 of therotor is in alignment therewith while the rotor is turning. Thus, aslide S sliding oit the point 35 will slide onto said edge 45 and saidslide will have a vertical disposition since, at the end 44, the mem--ber 43 is vertical.

Said member 43 is twisted through 90 from said upper end 44 -to aboutits midpoint so the portion 46 has a generally horizontal dispositionfrom said midpoint to the lower end thereof. It will be clear thatslides that slide down along the member 43 will be quarter-turned fromthe vertical hanging condition to a horizontal flatwise disposition onthe slide portion 46. Since the hanging edge45 now is laterallydirected, the slideway is provided with a strip 47 that is parallel toand spaced from said edge 45 to form a slide channel or path 48 for theanged studs 39 of the slides. FIGS. 5 and 6 show the position of theslides with their extensions 40 resting lightly on the member 46 whilethe hanged studs 39 are confined to said channel.

The lower end of the slideway 14 is provided with a flat spring 49 thatforms a lightly resilient release abutment to retain the slides fromsliding oi the end of the slideway under gravity. As seen in FIG. 5, theslides are retained by the end 49a of the spring 49 until one -or moreof them is manually pushed past said resilient abutment. The slides thatfollow will then fall by grav- 4ity until stopped by spring end 49a.

It vwill be noted that slide-counting marks or graduations 50 may beprovided on the slideway, in this case on the strip 51 thatcarries themember 43 and strip 47. It is, therefore, a simple matter to slide theslides oi the slideway in batches of the number desired without the needfor separately counting them out.

The means is shown as a channel 52 that extends Iforwardly from the base10 with its longitudinal center aligned with the slideway channel orpath. Said channel 52V locates the end of a curtain or traverse rod 16,Aas indicated in FIGS. S and 6, with its longitudinal slot .53 alignedwith the mentioned slideway channel. As a consequence, slides S pushedoff the slideway 13 have vtheir flanged studs 39 moved into the slot 53,thereby providing the rod 16 with the slides thus removed from :theslideway. A spring54 in channel 52 serves to lightly clamp the rod 16 inits desired end-to-end abutting relation with the lower end ot theslideway 14. This is clearly shown in FIG. 7.

Since the above-described feeding machine may be modified withoutdeparting from the spiritl and scope of the invention, we do not wishthat the claims be restricted, but rather desire that this disclosure beconsidered as exemplary of modifications that vmay fall within the scopeof said claims.

We claim: 1. A feeding machine for hanger slides having stud hangerportions, comprising (a) a hopper to loosely having a front opening, (b)a rotational rotor in said hopper provided with -members havingoutwardly directed edges that are hold a supply ofk slides and a spacebetween the hopper and the slide-hanging mem bers of the rotor where thelatter engage slides in the hopper to lift them.

3. A feeding machine according to claim 2 in which the slide-hangingmembers of the rotor are provided at their rearward ends with curvedscoop portions on the same slope as the slope of the edges of theslide-hanging members.

4. A feeding machine according to claim 3 in which the rotor, inaddition to the slide-hanging members, is provided with'rnembers to stiraround the slides in the hopper during rotation of the rotor.

5. A feeding machine according to claim 1 in which the rotor is providedwith projections that dislodge improperly hanging slides from theslide-hanging edges during sliding movement of said improperly hungslides toward the point of the rotor. j

6. A feeding machine for hanger slides having stud hanger portions,comprising Y (a) a hopper to loosely hold a supply of slides and havinga front opening,

(b) a rotational rotor in said hopper provided with members havingoutwardly directed edges that are sloped to a point directed toward andadjacent said opening and on the axis of rotation of the rotor, saidedges engaging and hanging slides thereon to slide downwardly towardsaid rotor point,

(c) a slideway extending in a forwardly and downwardly sloping directionfrom said point and receptive of slides sliding olf said rotor edges,

(d) said slideway being provided with a member that has a twist thereinfrom a portion having a vertical disposition where the same receivesslides from the rotor and a portion having a horizontal disposition, and

(e) resilient means at the end of the latter portion to resistgravitational sliding of the slides along the slope of the slideway.

7. A feeding machine according to claim 6 in which the member with thetwist therein has a hanger edge that is laterally directed where saidmember is horizontal, and a strip is disposed in spaced parallelism tosaid laterally directed edge to form a guide path of the slides.

8. A feeding machine according to claim 6 in which said resilient meanscomprises an elongated leaf spring with a slide-retaining spring end.

9. A feeding machine according to claim 7V in which is provided means toguide the location of a curtain rod in end-to-end relation with thelower end of the slideway with the conventional longitudinal slottherein in extension alignment with the guide path of the slideway.

10. A feeding machine according to claim 9 in which the slideway isprovided with slide-counting marks to facilitate transfer of slides fromthe slideway to the curtain rod in predetermined numbers, as desired.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITEDV STATES PATENTS 455,552Welton July 7, 1891 729,526 Bartel lune 2, 1903 828,396 Fraser Aug. 14,1906 1,103,580 Havener July 14, 1914 2,670,778 Levine Mar. 2, 1954

1. A FEEDING MACHINE FOR HANGER SLIDES HAVING STUD HANGER PORTION,COMPRISING (A) A HOPPER TO LOOSELY HOLD SUPPLY OF SLIDES AND HAVING AFRONT OPENING, (B) A ROTATIONAL ROTOR IN SAID HOPPER PROVIDED WITHMEMBERS HAVING OUTWARDLY DIRECTED EDGES THAT ARE SLOPED TO A POINTDIRECTED TOWARD AND ADJACENT SAID OPENING AND ON THE AXIS OF ROTATION OFTHE ROROT, SAID EDGES ENGAGING AND HANGING SLIDES THEREON TO SLIDEDOWNWARDLY TOWARD SAID ROTOR POINT, AND (C) A SLIDEWAY EXTENDING IN AFORWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY SLOPING DIRECTION FROM SAID POINT AND RECEPTIVEOF SLIDES SLIDING OFF SAID ROTOR EDGES.